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President Solvite wrote:
However Anderson's initial effort with UFO, looks naff, but actually has very dark and gritty storylines within it..

I thought it looked great! Apart from the incredibly inefficient Interceptors (One shot? Just one? Seriously? So if I miss, the alien gets through?), I loved the look - purple wigs, string vests, the lot.

Some of the stories were very dark and adult (by which I mean adult themes, not ... ahem... you know) - special mentions to 'Confetti Check A-OK' (disintegration of Straker's marriage), 'A Question of Priorities' (Straker has to choose between saving the Earth from aliens or saving his son), 'Sub Smash' (claustrophobic submarine drama), 'Survival' - (Foster and Alien, alone on the moon - storyline then reused in TNG episode 'The Enemy' ).

I still prefer UFO to Space 1999.

Twitter: @TravisinaB7
Tumblr: tumblrThere's no point being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes

And of course that dates from at least 58, to suggest Trek, Nation or indeed any series had original concepts or ideas is ludicrous.

Personally I preferred the 50's version of the Fly to Cronenberg's version which in my opinion looked a bit naff.

I agree about the seemingly pointless nature of the One shot UFO interceptors... I suspect they are a bit of a rush job focusing on speed rather than longevity for sustained combat and I suspect a MK II interceptor was in the works with some sort of 'CIWS' or similar instead of that clunky 'dumb fire' missile.. I always wondered why the aliens just didn't attack en-masse and overwhelm Earths seemingly rather limited defences. (Mind you we can level the same accusation at Spectra and its simple wave of singular attacks on G Force in Battle of the Planets)

@Lurena: Good to see that there is at least one other member here who knows Raumpatrouille! When I watched it for the first time, I was 10 or 11 years old, and the Frogs frightened the hell out of me. And they are still very creepy and the most convincing aliens I’ve ever seen on TV.

Indeed they are! They were so well created considering the show had a very, very low budget. Remember all the household stuff in the sets? The iron in the dashboard and mugs in the ceiling...
The drama and acting had to turn it all into believable futuristic stuff.
Blake's 7 offered me the same treat (spoons on Vila's costume, cutlery trays on the wall etc) and I instantly loved the series!

Yes it did and the scene was crucial plot wise. Teleportation is considered by many readers to be mentioned the first time (around 1895) by a certain Charles Hoyt Fort (1874-1932) who wrote about so called "anomalous phenomena". His ideas often inspired many SF writers.

Even earlier we have Philip miraculously transported in the book of Acts (8:39. 40): "When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea." [emphasis added]

I know this is drifting off topic, but there is a very important real world analogy in the 'one shot' interceptors that is often overlooked now but was actually a nice touch of realism at the time:

Britain's own first (and, in any practical way, only) line of defence against nuclear bomb bearing Russian planes appearing over the North Sea was squadrons on English Electric Lightning jet interceptors, waiting in Quick Response Hangers with crews suited up as in UFO and ready to climb in and launch within seconds if needed; but the significant detail is how many missiles Lightnings were fitted with as, again the same as their fictional alien attacking counterparts, each plane only carried one missile each. If more Bears than Lightnings turned up for the fight, then plan B was ramming them out of the sky.

Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. I bet that means something. It sounds great.

I note how the author of the book refers to the Star Trek transporter, but nothing before, as if Star Trek somehow had the original idea, when it had appeared in plenty of other fiction by then.

And as throughout the rest of this tedious volume, B7 is compared to Trek and Space 1999, when surely to goodness, the author should be looking more at DW comparisons, given the background of much of the B7 production team.

Incidentally, Doctor Who: Keys Of Marinus (1964) and B7 (1978) both share teleport by bracelet. Is this Terry's little idiosyncrasy, or were teleport bracelets used in wider sci-fi fiction as well?
Edited by trevor travis on 21 February 2016 08:52:35

And of course that dates from at least 58, to suggest Trek, Nation or indeed any series had original concepts or ideas is ludicrous.

)

The Fly was originally a short story, which I just looked up and found dates to 1957. I've read it, many years ago, and it's quite scary. Never seen either of the films. According to Wikipaedia, the first reference to a teleportation device was in 1877, which rather amazed me. It really is a well-worn conceit.

So, transporters were commonplace many years before Star Trek.
But of course the lean, rational, extraterrestrial science officer with the pointy ears, the peculiarly precise manner of speech and the one-syllable name starting with S was an invention of Star Trek.

Wrong.
He already appeared on screen in 1962 in the British sci-fi show Space Patrol. His name was Slim.

I know this is drifting off topic, but there is a very important real world analogy in the 'one shot' interceptors that is often overlooked now but was actually a nice touch of realism at the time:

Britain's own first (and, in any practical way, only) line of defence against nuclear bomb bearing Russian planes appearing over the North Sea was squadrons on English Electric Lightning jet interceptors, waiting in Quick Response Hangers with crews suited up as in UFO and ready to climb in and launch within seconds if needed; but the significant detail is how many missiles Lightnings were fitted with as, again the same as their fictional alien attacking counterparts, each plane only carried one missile each. If more Bears than Lightnings turned up for the fight, then plan B was ramming them out of the sky.

Hmm interesting and quite plausible but according to Wiki most fighter configurations seemed to be 2 missiles plus an Aden Cannon which was swapped out for fuel tanks depending on the mission configuration I guess. I doubt they would sacrifice missiles for range for intercept duties.. Unless your source was saying that the missiles were in short supply at the time (possible I suppose in austere post war Britain) Not disagreeing but it seems a strange tactic and alternate sources disputing your figures SD. The Tornado F3 was introduced to provide a heavier weapons load but I always thought the interceptors carried more than a single (Fire Streak missile) apart from a short time maybe around the time the F3 was introduced. There was a constant battle on giving it more range (but I think that was for elsewhere rather than homeland defence)

Bears are relatively slow lumbering noisy aircraft... I would have thought the faster Badgers and Backfires more of a threat. Although with range issues perhaps not.. Interesting facts I have found out with Lightnings... They were credited a single kill in 1972, shooting down of a pilotless Harrier (to avoid a diplomatic incident) and the Lighting beat much more modern aircraft Like F15 Eagles, F14 Tomcats and F16 in Nato/BA test trials when various planes where tasked to intercept a Concorde on maximum speed.. Only the Lighting managed the interception not bad for an aging plane mind you it was a plane optimised for speed and altitude... An incredible aircraft nevertheless

I had never heard of the series until you recommended it on the 'What are you watching' thread. Thank you for doing that! A couple of months ago, I watched the whole lot, and I loved it! It is surprisingly mature for a kid show. You could easily turn it into a live-action series for adults. Actually, it has been done: two episodes have been remade as major Hollywood blockbusters, The Wandering Asteroid as Armageddon and The Talking Bell as E.T. (complete with healing light finger).

It is - the language is quite grown up (with words such as 'alacrity' ) and it has some proper SF concepts, such as going into cryogenic suspension for long space journeys, the creature that teleports ("I'll be with you... now!" ) and the way the Galasphere becomes invisible when travelling at FTL speed.

The only thing that slightly irks me is the patronising attitude towards women (the Professor and the Commander always reacting with faint surprise that their daughter / secretary is capable of any intelligent thought) - but the upshot was that as a child my ambition was to become an astronaut, not a secretary!

@Lurena - yes, I have the DVDs and occasionally treat myself to an episode on YouTube when I'm feeling in the mood.

Twitter: @TravisinaB7
Tumblr: tumblrThere's no point being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes

This is very strange...I have no recollection what so ever of this Space Patrol. Although I do recall Torchy and Twizzle also by Roberta Leigh.
I can only imagine that we were glued to something else while this show was being shown.
Hmm, at least this narrows down the year to our TV turning up...1963. I had thought it was June..it was definetly before Nov 22nd as that incident in Dallas pre-empted us watching a certain new BBC show.

Cold.....you don't know the meaning of cold.
Cold is when you have ice on the INSIDE of the window!!!